Lloyd Augustus Chamblin, Jr., was born in Sumner, Mississippi in July 1924. He lived in a rural community with lots of cotton growing everywhere. His father managed a gas station, while his mother worked at a clothing store. Because both of his parents were employed through the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945], he did not suffer very much. Chamblin joined the Boy Scouts [Annotator's Note: Boy Scouts of America, scouting and youth organization founded in 1910] as a child. On one occasion, his troop took a trip to Biloxi, Mississippi to fish in the Gulf [Annotator's Note: Gulf of Mexico]. He had an interest in aviation at an early age, often drawing pictures of planes. He enjoyed watching planes when they flew over his community. One time, a World War 1 plane landed in a nearby cow pasture and everyone in the community came over to see it. His father paid the pilot five dollars to allow Chamblin to ride in the plane. His mother took him to Clarksdale, Mississippi to fly in a plane. Chamblin graduated from high school [Annotator's Note: A clock dings in background at 0:03:17.000] and attended one year of college before he enlisted at age 18 in the Marine Corps. He was proud to wear the uniform. He was sent to the University of Georgia [Annotator's Note: University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia] for preflight school and did mostly athletic training. He enjoyed his training in the Marine Corps. Once he completed preflight school, he was sent to primary flight school in Memphis, Tennessee. His flight suit that was very large, so he had trouble reaching the controls and rudder paddles. On his first solo flight, his engine stalled out and when he landed, the plane spun around. After he completed primary training, he was sent to Pensacola, Florida and flew an SNV Vultee [Annotator's Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic trainer aircraft; also known as the Vultee Vibrator]. He learned instrument flying. While he was in training, he had difficulty keeping track of the war, but he was able to take some leave [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] between his training. In 1943, he was sent to Jacksonville [Annotator's Note: Jacksonville, Florida] for advanced training. He practiced flying in the Grumman F4F Wildcat [Annotator's Note: Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter aircraft]. He had some difficulty getting used to the way it flew, especially because he had to crank up the landing gear by hand. He practiced glide bombing, his engine stalled and he crash-landed in a marsh. He had to wait for rescue. A couple of farmers freed him from the plane. Chamblin was able to get in touch with someone in Jacksonville and they sent an ambulance to him even though he was not injured. He never did find out why the engine on the plane stalled out.

Lloyd Augustus Chamblin, Jr., was sent to El Toro [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, California] to train on the F4U Corsair [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft]. The pilot's seat did not swivel well and the nose was very large. He had a very unsuccessful landing his first time in the plane. As he landed, he swerved around and then the tail flipped up onto its nose and the plane crashed. He survived and was able to get out of the crash. He went to his CO [Annotator's Note: commanding officer] and told him he no longer wanted to be a fighter pilot because he did not like the plane. He asked to switch to dive bomber training. He trained at El Toro for a year in SBDs [Annotator's Note: Douglass SBD Dauntless dive bomber] and Helldivers [Annotator's Note: Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bomber]. [Annotator's Note: A clock dings in the background at 0:18:10.000.] Since the Navy used aircraft carriers, Chamblin was trained how to land on a deck in an outlined field. One day, he was on a bus heading to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] to be tested flying from an aircraft carrier, but never got there. The bus was stopped by a highway patrolman who told him and the rest that the carrier had left the port. When he was finally shipped overseas, Chamblin was sent to New Caledonia and then to Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. He was a replacement SBD pilot [Annotator's Note: in Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 133 (VMSB-133)]. He followed a C-47 [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain cargo aircraft] to navigate to the target site. His targets included Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Papua New Guinea] and the Philippines. On support missions for the Army, one pilot communicated with the ground troops. When they gave the troops the signal, six dive bombers would come through the target area and clear it with various firepower including, a 1000 pound bomb or two 500 pound bombs, .50 caliber guns [Annotator's Note: Browning ANM2 .50 caliber machine gun], and twin .30 calibers [Annotator's Note: Browning ANM2 .30 caliber machine gun]. On one occasion, Chamblin received heavy damage by one of his own gunners. He was diving near Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippines], and as he was coming out of a dive, he realized that he was about to run into a mountain, so he cut the dive short. The sudden movement jerked his gunner and caused him to shoot his own plane. There was hardly any antiaircraft and other kinds of opposition during the time he was there. He only had a little enemy opposition in his first few missions. Chamblin was in the Philippines when World War 2 ended. Chamblin enjoyed flying the SBD because it was easy to fly. It was not a fast plane, but it was very stable. When he was in training, and went into a dive for the first time, he pulled out almost immediately because he was going down vertically, which felt uncomfortable. He eventually got used to it. One guy in his squadron liked to show off. When he took a reporter up in the air one day, he thought he released his 1000 pound bomb but did not. He then did a slow roll at low altitude which was not smart. The same guy threw oil on a centipede while he was in his tent and the tent caught on fire.

Lloyd Augustus Chamblin, Jr. knew most of the men in his squadron [Annotator's Note: Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 133 (VMSB-133)] from training. He gained a lot of experience from the First and Second Lieutenants in his squadron. His squadron took off from an area in Luzon [Annotator's Note: Luzon, Philippines]. Toward the end of the war, he went to Mindanao [Annotator's Note: Mindanao, Philippines] and worked off a dirt strip built by Seabees [Annotator's Note: members of US naval construction battalions]. Landings were usually rough. He lived in a tent with 15 other men in his squadron. The CO [Annotator's Note: commanding officer] made them play volleyball for physical activity. Chamblin flew a total of 59 combat missions. He did at least one mission a day. He wrote irregularly to his family because he could not say very much about what was going on. During training there was a tragic accident. A pilot ran into his target and died. That shook him up. He also had a friend who went out for a training run and did not return. [Annotator's Note: Some dings are heard in the background at 0:33:10.000.] The Corsair [Annotator's Note: Vought F4U Corsair fighter aircraft] was a heavy duty airplane that pilots could easily spin and stall out. When World War 2 was declared over, Chamblin drank too much beer and celebrated in the southern Philippines. Then he waited to be sent home. He flew to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] and then took a destroyer to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. The voyage back to the United States was very rocky. As they came near the naval port, he saw the new F8F Bearcat [Annotator's Note: Grumman F8F Bearcat fighter aircraft]. He stayed in California and enrolled in USC [Annotator's Note: University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California] on the G.I. Bill. He got his degree in two and half years. Chamblin remembers one mission where the pilot got vertigo and had to bail out. They never saw him again. Chamblin won five Air Medals [Annotator's Note: US Armed Forces medal for single acts of heroism or meritorious achievement while in aerial flight] and Distinguished Flying Crosses [Annotator's Note: US Armed Forces award for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight].

Lloyd Augustus Chamblin, Jr. believes it is important for the younger generation to know more about World War 2. He also thinks the younger generation should join the military because it would be good for them. He enjoys institutions like The National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: in New Orleans, Louisiana], but does not know how it affects the younger generation. The war gave Chamblin more opportunities. He went from being in a small town to living in a big city. He also signed up for the Reserves and was able to fly other military aircraft. He enjoyed the cross-country experience flying in a variety of aircraft. He was able to retire as a Lieutenant Colonel. Chamblin thinks individuals must rise to the occasion because America is worth protecting.